Abstract

This thesis alms to develop a comprehensive understanding of cross-projectlearning in multiple-project environments. Cross-project learning is the processthrough which technologies are transferred and reused within organisations.Recent years have seen a growing interest in cross-project learning. However,research in this area has emphasised the rational, classical approach to crossprojectlearning. Also, the majority of research on cross-project learning haslargely been on the automobile industry in Japan and the USA. Thirdly, researchin this field has failed to assess the impact that cross-project learning has had onother organisational processes in product development. The conclusions of thesestudies are context-specific, fragmented and lack any critical assessment of theprocess of introducing cross-project learning.This study argues that a rather different approach to cross-project learning isneeded. A three-level analysis is applied in the present study that highlightsoperational, dysfunctional and strategic aspects in cross-project learning. Theempirical core of the research is the evidence from three in-depth case studiesconducted in the Israeli electronics defence industry.Three different approaches to cross-project learning have been identified at theoperational level, offering organisational mechanisms and managerial practicesthat have not previously been reported. At the dysfunctional operations level, thestudy reveals that the introduction of innovations in cross-project learning hasimpacted the past harmony between expertise development and knowledgemanagement practices. The findings suggest that this harmony has broken downwhile the knowledge management and expertise development practices have beenfurther transformed and developed. Lastly, at the strategic level of analysis, twopotential cross-project learning strategies have been detected: exploit productsuccess and design to reuse. A contingency model that emphasises theevolutionary development path of 'modes of reusability', subject to the 'strategicdevelopment' of the studied companies, concludes this study.